texts that change the conscious parameters of literature, both for readers and writers. from a different angle than these, r.p. blackmur adds: 'poetry: [is] ...language so twisted and posed in a form that...it adds to the stock of available reality.' formerly edited by peter ganick. send texts to Volodymyr Bilyk at ex.ex.lit@gmail.com for consideration...

Pages

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Howie Good - Three Pieces

1. How to Prepare for HeartbreakSummoning upa kind of rage, stubbornly walk, or even crawl, across a frozen seaand then pass through a hole in a fence, on the other side of which it’s dusk, and maybe always is,no people anywhere,just stubble fieldsand a black dog with a red tongue.

***2. FactoryThis isn’t the best place to work. The roof is burning. We might as well be mannequins for all the concern we’re allowed to display. It’s like a test of some sort. Smoke begins to seep into the building, and my eyes tear up. The temp worker standing opposite me on the assembly line chews on the middle links of her thin gold necklace, a nervous habit that under other conditions would be endearing but now just irritates me. We work in silence, heads bent forward, hands moving as if diabolically programmed to perform brutal stabbing gestures over and over.

***3. OMGThe police had dogs. They even had helicopters. They tried to kill a child to shut her up. I searched among the dead and injured and couldn’t find her. A crow in a tree made a noise like “Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha!” as if finding the circumstances amusing. I responded, “No, no, no!” Everyone thought I was crazy. They failed to notice those didn’t resemble normal clouds up there, but angels tracking in blood on their sneakers.